Pavel Bittner (DSM-Firmenich-PostNL) delivered an impressive display of speed and power to dominate the bunch sprint of Sevilla, on day 5 of La Vuelta 24. The 21-year-old star in the making narrowly got the better of Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) to claim his first Grand Tour victory, in his first participation! Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck) rounds out the podium of the day and Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) retains La Roja ahead of another summit finish. Bittner is the first Czech stage winner in La Vuelta since Zdenek Stybar and Leopold König on days 7 and 8 in 2013.
After a first summit finish at Pico Villuercas, La Vuelta returns to the valley with stage 5, from Fuente del Maestre to Sevilla (177km). It’s another hot day for the riders but it doesn’t stop Ibon Ruiz (Kern Pharma) from going for his third breakaway in this 2024 edition, this time alongside Txomin Juaristi (Euskaltel-Euskadi).
En route to Sevilla, a historical city
The riders head to Sevilla, a city deeply rooted in the history of La Vuelta and La Roja. It was already part of the first edition of the race, in 1935, with Belgium’s Gustaaf Deloor claiming victory, en route to the overall triumph. Most recently, Sevilla hosted the Gran Salida in 2010. It marked the introduction of La Roja as the new leader’s jersey and Mark Cavendish won with HTC-Columbia.
This time, Kaden Groves’ Alpecin-Deceuninck and Wout van Aert’s Visma-Lease a Bike show their ambitions. The gap gets up to 5’40’’ (km 40) and then gradually drops down on the way to Sevilla, where Bryan Coquard (Cofidis) also hopes he can repeat his success from the Vuelta a Andalucia 2017.
Bittner edges Van Aert
The pace suddenly increases in the last 50 kilometres. Ruiz and Juaristi are eventually caught with 38km to go, ahead of the intermediate sprint of La Algaba (km 152.4). Groves comes first, ahead of Van Aert.
The finale of the stage is extremely fast in the streets of Sevilla. Rui Costa (EF Education-EasyPost) goes down in a turn and has to abandon.
Alpecin-Deceuninck set the sprint for Groves… Van Aert opens up early… And it takes the photofinish to see that Pavel Bittner (DSM-Firmenich-PostNL) moved past the Belgian star right on the line!
